Dateline Istanbul -- WMR was told by representatives of the charismatic Turkish Islamic leader Fethullah Gulen, currently living in exile in Pennsylvania in the United States, that the wide-ranging Ergenekon "deep state" in Turkey that has permeated the military, media, and judiciary, has funded itself through the trade in heroin from Afghanistan, through Turkey, to the West. The drug smuggling operation, according to the Gulen circles, has been carried out with the participation of the Turkish Worker's Party (PKK), the Kurdish insurgent group often credited with carrying out terrorist attacks in Turkey that were actually, in many cases, done by Turkish intelligence and military agents in the Ergenekon operation.

The Gulen representatives also revealed that it was not possible for the PKK to smuggle drugs from Afghanistan without the active help of the Turkish "police and bureaucracy."

Gulen, who WMR has reported to have had his own close dealings with American intelligence and players in the Turkish bureaucracy, is the leader of an Islamic group that is a hybrid of U.S.-style charismatic evangelism in the mold of Billy Graham but with the extensive media and business holdings in the mode of Rev. Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church. Gulen, who preaches love, interfaith dialogue, and non-violence, is a popular figure among the rank-and-file of Turkey.

Gulen fled to the United States in 1997 and was later charged by the Turkish government with running a terrorist network. Gulen denied the charge and the case was dismissed in 2007. The President, Prime Minister, and Justice Minister cleared Gulen of all charges brought against him.

However, Gulen has chosen to remain in the United States. His supporters claim that Gulen has made a concordat with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's Justice and Development Party (AKP) and both Gulen and Erdogan realize that any return of Gulen to Turkey will take attention away from the AKP's agenda. Part of that agenda is to eliminate the last vestiges of Ergenekon, a leftover from what the Gulen representatives claim is the Gladio network in Turkey. Gladio was a NATO operation designed to leave armed "stay behind" networks in NATO and neutral European states in the event of a Soviet invasion and occupation. In Italy, West Germany, Belgium and other nations, Gladio networks were discovered to have been involved in several "false flag" terrorist attacks that were later blamed on leftist elements.

On April 5, Turkish police arrested 86 people suspected of being involved in Ergenekon's 2003 plot, code named Operation Sledgehammer, to overthrow Erdogan's government by staging false flag attacks on mosques and shooting down a Turkish jet fighter and blaming the incident on Greece. WMR has learned that Mossad elements were involved heavily in the operation to overthrow Erdogan.

Gulen also believes if he were to return to Turkey, his supporters would be targeted by Ergenekon. Relations between Gulen and Erdogan were not always so close. For example, early in his political career, Erdogan was said by the Gulen representatives to have embraced the Islamic concept of suffering of the oppressed rather than freedom. The Gulen camp believes that the suffering of the oppressed is a concept originating in Saudi Arabia among the Wahhabist branch of Islam. However, Erdogan and Gulen now find themselves on the same page politically and in matters of religious tenets. Gulen believes that the AKP is the only party that defends democratic values and that there is no alternative and that the AKP, which Gulen believes has gravitated to his ideas, now stands alone in defending democratic values.

On August 6, 2009, WMR reported on the deposition of former FBI Turkish translator Sibel Edmonds. In her testimony, Edmonds described Turkey's "Deep State" intelligence apparatus in the United States. WMR reported, "The Turkish Deep State involves shadowy organizations, including the Fetullah Gulen Islamic movement, which was linked to the CIA by Justice Department prosecutors; Ergenekon, a Turkish intelligence operation that is accused of carrying out false flag terrorist attacks in Turkey and which has been linked to Israel's Mossad, and the right-wing Grey Wolves, a group that, along with Ergenekon, appears to have grown out of America's 'Gladio' Cold War-era 'stay behind' network."

There is some background that suggests that the Gulen movement was involved to some degree with the Turkish Deep State. The Gulenists are an outgrowth of the Said Nursi movement. Nursi was another charismatic Islamic figure who preached against materialism but also against communism. During the Cold War, the Nursi sect attracted the attention of the CIA, which found an ally in pushing for Turkey's membership in NATO, CENTO, and participation in the Korean War.

On December 2, 2008, WMR reported: "In polls, some one-third of the Turkish public believe Islamist Nurcu sect charismatic leader Grand Hodja Fethullah Gulen, who lives in Pennsylvania, is part of a movement that aims to seize control of the Turkish state and a little over a third believe that Gulen is funded by 'international powers.' After he was acquitted in Turkey of attempting to overthrow the secular state with his religious organization, Gulen was first denied a Permanent Resident Card or 'Green Card' to remain in the United States by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania but then an appeals court granted Gulen a Green Card. In October of this year, a federal appellate court found that U.S. immigration authorities improperly rejected Gulen's request for a Green Card. The appeals court ruled that Gulen was 'an alien of extraordinary ability'" a decision that saw approval of Gulen's residency status. Observers of the case suspect the CIA intervened with the court on Gulen's behalf. Gulen's support for the AKP government may be an insurance policy by the CIA to maintain a close relationship with the 'Islamist tendency' AKP government in Ankara. The Bush administration, after seven years of trying to deport Gulen to Turkey, suddenly dropped its opposition to his permanent residency status. The public prosecutor in the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) case against Gulen's permanent residency status argued in filed documents that Gulen's movement was financially supported by Saudi Arabia, Iran, the Turkish government, and the 'Central Intelligence Agency.' The deposition stated that some Ankara businessmen donated up to 70 percent of their income to Gulen's movement."

In discussions in Istanbul on April 5 with members of the Gulen organization, it was revealed that Gulen blames his U.S. green card rejection squarely on then-Vice President Dick Cheney and the Department of Homeland Security, then headed by the pro-Israeli Michael Chertoff. Gulen believes that Cheney, because of his own ties to Ergenekon, put pressure on Homeland Security to reject Gulen's application for the extraordinary talent residency permit. Apparently, Gulen still has enemies in the United States. Since Erdogan's rift with Israel, Gulen has stated that the "neocons and Ergenekon" are giving him trouble.

Gulen appears to have a point. Based on seized Ergenekon documents, Gulen and his movement, since their concordat with Erdogan and the AKP, has figured high on the Ergenekon hit list.

WMR has obtained an English translation of an article that appeared in the Istanbul daily Tarafon June 12, 2009 that outlines Ergenekon's plans to disrupt the Gulen movement (and includes textbook examples of media disinformation and psychological warfare operations campaigns):

APPENDIX III

PLAN TO FINISH OFF AKP AND GÜLEN

Taraf has uncovered a new “Action Plan to Combat Reactionaryism”, which belongs to the Office of the Chief of Staff. According to the plan, emphasis would be made that the officers arrested as part of Ergenekon investigation were “innocent” and propaganda would be staged that AKP has eventually aimed at introducing “a regime taking religious principles as a basis”.

It is uncovered that the Office of the Chief of Staff has prepared a new action plan titled, “combating reactionaryism”. The plan prepared by Naval Infantry Staff Senior Colonel Dursun Çiçek in April 2009 clearly voices concern over Ergenekon investigation. A call is made to stage actions “before the agenda of Ergenekon investigation is changed” as it is aimed at giving high profile to those news articles that the active and retired officers arrested under Ergenekon have been put in jail just because they were fighting reactionary Islam.

The new plan belonging to the Office of the Chief of Staff, that was seized in the office of Lawyer Serdar Öztürk, a former officer now practicing as a lawyer, who was arrested as part of Ergenekon investigation, were taken down under minutes and are now expected to incorporated into the third indictment on Ergenekon. At the same time, Öztürk was acting as the attorney for Colonel Levent Göktaş, a member of the Special Forces, who was also arrested under Ergenekon.

Support Section Directorate No 3 of the Operations Department in the Office of the Chief of Staff is the new title of the Psychological Warfare Department. Any planning made for the Office of the Chief of is now being executed by this section. The new plan belonging to the Office of the Chief of Staff, that was seized in the office of Lawyer Serdar Öztürk, a former officer now practicing as a lawyer, who was arrested as part of Ergenekon investigation, were taken down under minutes and are now expected to incorporated into the third indictment on Ergenekon.

THE NAME OF THE MILITARY BEING BLACKENED

The part, “Current Status”, of “the Action Plan To Combat Reactionaryism”, which comprises four pages criticizes Ergenekon investigation: “Intensive activities are carried out by the religiously reactionary groups to erode the image of the official institutions of the state, particularly TSK (Turkish Armed Forces) as efforts are under way to blacken the names of retired and active military staff, who have made substantial contributions to TSK, by charging unfounded allegations against them as part of Ergenekon.”

“UNFRIENDLY ELEMENTS” ERODING TSK

The part, “Unfriendly Elements”, of the plan claims that it is aimed at having “a regime based on religious principles” by eroding TSK:

- TSK is regarded as the sole institution that would prevent their aim of establishing a regime based on religious principles by disbanding Atatürk’s Principles and Revolutions and toppling the secular, democratic and social state of law;

- They publish any information and documents seized, which erode TSK through the media which support them;

- They attempt to prove that the meetings of unity and solidarity in which the public has shown intensive interest have been intentionally planned by Ergenekon;

- It is claimed that TSK cooperates with various terror networks including PKK terror network under Ergenekon roof.

- False news articles are developed that the top level commanders are Jewish, Armenian, pro-Sebatay, etc.;

- They broadcast audio and video recordings which they claim belong to TSK staff in order to keep the public opinion pre-occupied and cause information pollution.

“FRIENDLY ELEMENTS” TO BE USED ACCORDING TO A PLAN

The plan prepared by Colonel Çiçek also refers to “the Friendly Elements”, which would be used against reactionary Islam. Here are those “friends”:

- Propaganda efforts revealing the actual faces of the religiously reactionary groups are carried out via the press and publication organs in an orchestrated manner.

- Information activities are executed for TSK staff and their members.

- Those members of the staff, who are believed to have been infiltrated into TSK, and their families are followed and placed under control.

- Measures are introduced on the issue of computer and document security.

MEDIA ACTION PLAN

TSK ‘INNOCENT’, ALL THE BLAME ON THE RELIGIOUSLY REACTIONARY STAFF MEMBERS

In reference to Ergenekon operation under the part, “Media Activities”, a call is made for preparation of news articles that TSK members are “innocent”:

- Persons such as İskender Evrenseloğlu and Ömer Öngüt we keep on hold ready for action will be ordered to stage actions and speeches catching public interest and these persons will be identified with other reactionary Islamist groups, particularly FG followers so that the public opinion may establish analogy between any such groups.

- It will be ensured that any TSK staff members seized or agreeing to disclose would make statements in line with the themes determined by us and that such disclosure would have wide coverage in the press.

- News articles will be fabricated that TSK staff members arrested under Ergenekon investigation are innocent and that they are slandered just because they effectively fight reactionary Islam. – It will be ensured that figures such as Nurettin Veren would make statements about FG group on TV programs in line with the themes determined by us.

- By commissioning news articles that as TSK staff members belonging to other religious societies such as Kurdoğlu, etc., are disassociated with TSK, they have been expelled on ground of their affiliation with FG group so that there would be public opinion that FG group suffered substantial damage.

- News articles will be commissioned that no action being staged by PKK terrorist organization against any schools, classrooms and hostels in the Eastern and Southeastern Anatolia regions as well as in the north of Iraq, which are owned by FG followers is a clear sign of a link between the two networks and also of an agreement between them.

“KURTLAR VADİSİ” MUST BE WRITTEN OFF

- Series such as “Kurtlar Vadisi” (The Valley of the Wolves), “Kollama” (Protection) and “Tek Türkiye” (The Only Turkey), which are popularly viewed by the public, misleading the public opinion on the current events must suffer loss of reliability by commissioning adverse news articles on them.

- By ensuring an intensive coverage of images and news articles showing the school students belonging to the National Education Ministry as they practice worshipping, the public image of the National Education Ministry will be degraded.

- News articles will be commissioned that AKP followers have not given up on their luxurious life styles at a time when the impact of the economic crisis is acutely felt in our country so that the public opinion would be informed of the fact that this situation “conflicts with the Islamic understanding” and further that their approach, “man of the people”, never reflects the reality.

- By constantly keeping current any news articles about Armenia and Greece, which would lead to public reaction, expansion of the base of the nationalist parties will be ensured.

PLAN TO FINISH OFF AKP

“WE’VE GOT A DUTY UNDER THE CIRCUMSTANCES, SO LET’S TAKE ACTION NOW”

Noting that a “duty” must be undertaken under the circumstances, the plan says: “to put an end to the hesitancy over this issue by revealing the internal face of the religiously reactionary elements and eradicate public support for such networks. To minimize the impact of the erosive campaigns staged under Ergenekon, to put an end to the negative propagandas carried out against TSK”.

This is followed by the part, “execution”, of the plan and these phrases are used: “Information support activities will be executed to bring out to light the facts on the radical religious groups, particularly AKP government promoting the idea of establishing an Islamic state based on Islamic Law by overthrowing the secular and democratic order and various groups and Fetullah Güven group supporting it, to break the public support and put an end to their activities”.

- By causing the key communication specialists, who are AKP followers, to make contradictory statements publicly, it will be ensured that there would be public perception that AKP internally experienced serious disagreement and divisions.

THE AGENDA FOR ERGENEKON TO BE CHANGED

According to the plan, there is a requirement that the activities be put into motion in three parts synchronously with each other. The items required to be done are listed by the part, “Planning and General Activities” as follows:

- The propagandas to be executed will focus on the theme that there is no opposition to religion.

- Actions: the agenda for Ergenekon case is being changed.

PART ON FETULLAH GÜLEN

LET’S CONNECT TO LIVE BROADCASTS

- It will be ensured that by getting connected to any radio and television programs having a high audience under a different identity during live broadcasting, speeches are made under the disguise of a FG follower, commenting like a teased TG follower: “Yes, brother, anybody causing trouble to us is an Ergenekon sympathizer. It is a big duty for us to cause trouble to them. Nobody would be capable of dealing with us”.

LET’S DO “BLACK PROPAGANDA”

The conclusive part of the plan covers “Black Propaganda Activities”. Here is that part:

- Voice recordings which would be identified as having been broadcast by the religiously reactionary elements and cause listeners to find us justifiable will be arranged in order to create information pollution over the issue of voice recordings which have recently led to considerable repercussions.

- It shall be ensured that any staff members captured by fabricating cause publicly in connection with various information and documents would provide statements that they were FG followers and once such staff members were made public by the press, news articles shall be ordered about their morally negative aspects.

- It will be ensured with regard to the staff members as identified above that by identifying as their closest associates the most negative person in their circle of friends no matter that person is an ordinary figure, there would be a belief that this was actually the internal face of FG followers.

- It will be ensured that any objects associated with any elements (Jews, CIA, MOSSAD, Moon Sect, Houmeini, etc.) through which a link is intended to be established with FG followers, apart from any weapons and munitions there, would be on the same location by causing house raids to be staged on the basis of tips.

- It will be ensured that information and documents rekindling the Anti-Alawite feelings would be present in such houses as part of house raids.

- It will be ensured that there would be public opinion that FG group suffered substantial damage by commissioning news articles that any TSK members having association with religious societies such as Kurdoğlu, etc., have been expelled from service solely on ground of their association with FG group at the time when they would be disassociated with TSK.

The theme, “Fettullah Güven (FG) followers have gotten out of control, directly attacking TSK”, will be covered; in this scope, campaigns will be staged causing the citizens to comment: “This is beyond the limit! We are Muslim like them but FG followers are obviously making provocation to attack TSK”.

- Campaigns will be staged tipping on any religiously reactionary officers and non commissioned officers carrying out reactionary activities, who are in the category of objectionable / suspicious staff members and consequently, news articles will be commissioned about their morally negative aspects.

- By developing frightening propaganda against any other reactionary TSK staff members who could not be identified under the operation made against reactionary TSK staff members, it will be ensured that such persons would be uncovered by forcing them to make mistakes or would give in voluntarily.

- By ensuring that material such as weapons, munitions, plans, etc., would be found as part of the “Işık Evleri” raids to be made under military offenses in line with forming an armed terror network, FG group would be categorized under an “Armed Terror Network” or “Pro-Fettullah Armed Terror Network” (FSTÖ), with any investigation thereof being carried out under the military judiciary.

- The issue of moderate Islamist will be particularly emphasized, with the fact that FG followers act under the US guidance and that they aim to degrade the core of Islam being voiced intensively.

PLAN TO FINISH OFF FETTULLAH GÜLEN

It is now uncovered that the Office of the Chief of Staff has prepared a new action plan titled, “combat reactionaryism”. The new plan belonging to the Office of the Chief of Staff, that was seized in the office of Lawyer Serdar Öztürk, a former officer now practicing as a lawyer, who was arrested as part of Ergenekon investigation, were taken down under minutes and are now expected to incorporated into the third indictment on Ergenekon. At the same time, Öztürk was acting as the attorney for Colonel Levent Göktaş, a member of the Special Forces, who was also arrested under Ergenekon.

(...)

HERE IS THE “PLAN TO FINISH OFF AKP”

“WE’VE GOT A DUTY UNDER THE CIRCUMSTANCES, SO LET’S TAKE ACTION NOW”

Noting that a “duty” must be undertaken under the circumstances, the plan says: “to put an end to the hesitancy over this issue by revealing the internal face of the religiously reactionary elements and eradicate public support for such networks. To minimize the impact of the erosive campaigns staged under Ergenekon, to put an end to the negative propagandas carried out against TSK”.

This is followed by the part, “execution”, of the plan and these phrases are used: “Information support activities will be executed to bring out to light the facts on the radical religious groups, particularly AKP government promoting the idea of establishing an Islamic state based on Islamic Law by overthrowing the secular and democratic order and various groups and Fetullah Güven group supporting it, to break the public support and put an end to their activities”.

- By causing the key communication specialists, who are AKP followers, to make contradictory statements publicly, it will be ensured that there would be public perception that AKP internally experienced serious disagreement and divisions.

(...)

HERE IS THE ACTION PLAN FOR MEDIA UNDER THE PLAN

TSK INNOCENT, ALL THE BLAME ON THE REACTIONARY STAFF MEMBERS

In reference to Ergenekon operation under the part, “Media Activities”, a call is made for preparation of news articles that TSK members are “innocent”:

- Persons such as İskender Evrenseloğlu and Ömer Öngüt we keep on hold ready for action will be ordered to stage actions and speeches catching public interest and these persons will be identified with other reactionary Islamist groups, particularly FG followers so that the public opinion may establish analogy between any such groups.

- It will be ensured that any TSK staff members seized or agreeing to disclose would make statements in line with the themes determined by us and that such disclosure would have wide coverage in the press.

- News articles will be fabricated that TSK staff members arrested under Ergenekon investigation are innocent and that they are slandered just because they effectively fight reactionary Islam. – It will be ensured that figures such as Nurettin Veren would make statements about FG group on TV programs in line with the themes determined by us.

- By commissioning news articles that as TSK staff members belonging to other religious societies such as Kurdoğlu, etc., are disassociated with TSK, they have been expelled on ground of their affiliation with FG group so that there would be public opinion that FG group suffered substantial damage.

- News articles will be commissioned that no action being staged by PKK terrorist organization against any schools, classrooms and hostels in the Eastern and Southeastern Anatolia regions as well as in the north of Iraq, which are owned by FG followers is a clear sign of a link between the two networks and also of an agreement between them.

“KURTLAR VADİSİ” MUST BE WRITTEN OFF

- Series such as “Kurtlar Vadisi” (The Valley of the Wolves), “Kollama” (Protection) and “Tek Türkiye” (The Only Turkey), which are popularly viewed by the public, misleading the public opinion on the current events must suffer loss of reliability by commissioning adverse news articles on them.

- By ensuring an intensive coverage of images and news articles showing the school students belonging to the National Education Ministry as they practice worshipping, the public image of the National Education Ministry will be degraded.

(...)

- By constantly keeping current any news articles about Armenia and Greece, which would lead to public reaction, expansion of the base of the nationalist parties will be ensured.

April 7-8, 2010 Turkey declaring independence from Kemalists and their Israeli backers

The reformist Turkish government of Prime Minister Racep Tayyip Erdogan is under a major attack by subversive elements of the Turkish "Deep State," known as the Ergenekon network. In just the past week, scores of military officers and others have been arrested and then released and re-arrested in a showdown between the government and judicial officials appointed under a military-influenced Constitution. The officers are charged with trying to overthrow the government in a plot hatched in 2003 called Operation Sledgehammer. The plan would have seen members of the Turkish military bomb mosques and attack museums filled with tourists with Molotov cocktails. The attacks were designed to weaken support for Erdogan and the Islamic religious movement of Fethullah Gulen and eventually lead to a military coup.

One of the basic principles of Erdogan's Justice and Development (AK) Party is amending the Constitution to eliminate the vestiges of two previous military coups in 1960 and 1980. Ergenekon wants to ensure the proposed constitutional changes, which preserves the military's and deep state's control over the Constitutional Court and other bodies are never enacted.

Erdogan now faces a critical moment. Since January, there have been four assassination attempts against the Turkish Prime Minister. Furthermore, WMR has learned that the attempts to kill Erdogan have been linked to the Israeli Mossad, which has been authorized to take any action to kill the Turkish Prime Minister who has criticized Israel over its attacks on Gaza and Lebanon. The plans to kill Erdogan have included using snipers and blowing up his aircraft in flight. WMR has been told by a reliable source that Mossad is using its Turkish network, including Ergenekon operatives, to carry out an attack on Erdogan and then hide behind its "policy of ambiguity."

In just the past few days, the Israeli government and media have stepped up personal attacks on Erdogan, with the Jerusalem Post opining that Erdogan is in danger of becoming a Hugo Chavez, a reference to Venezuela's president, and Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman suggesting that Erdogan will become another "Qaddafi," a reference to the Libyan leader.

The AKP initiative to re-unify Cyprus, split between the Greek-controlled Republic of Cyprus in the south and the Turkish Republic of North Cyprus (TRNC) in the north has also irritated the Israelis and Mossad. Since gambling is illegal in Turkey, many Turks flock to the gambling casinos set up in the TRNC. Russian-Israeli Mafia elements have a huge stake in the casinos and any attempt to change the political status quo in north Cyprus jeopardizes the Israeli crime syndicate's financial interests. Erdogan's main opposition, the Republican People's Party (CHP), which adheres to the Kemal Ataturk philosophy of secular fascism, is behind the TRNC. The CHP has been the public face of opposition to Erdogan while Ergenekon has been operating in the shadows to oust the government through coups and assassinations. The CHP has exacerbated tensions by using the Turkish word for "cockroaches" to describe Turkish women who wear the traditional Islamic scarf.

The Ergenekon network staged a major false flag operation in 2007 when one of its operatives went to the Council of State in Ankara, a citadel for the Kemalist judiciary, shot and killed a judge and wounded other people. The shooter then cried out "Allahu Akbar!" -- "God is great." The Kemalist press began calling the shooting "Turkey's 9/11" and suggested the AKP government was encouraging Islamic terrorists. The Ergenekon-influenced Hurriyet carried the front page banner: "September 11 of Turkey." After being shown to have carried neocon and Ergenekon propaganda, the two former "main stream" papers, Hurriyet and Milliyet, have been eclipsed by other papers, including Zaman, that are covering details of Ergenekon and on-going trials.

The entire Council of State operation was carried out by Ergenekon to weaken the AKP government. Many Turks agree that the United States, like Turkey, has a "Deep State" capable of carrying out false flag terrorist attacks against its own citizens. When asked if they thought the 9/11 attacks in America may be an American Deep State operation, many Turks merely smile. A few others offer up the belief that America's Deep State has been responsible for much more than 9/11 over the years.

A high-ranking official of Turkey's government-owned TRT television network told WMR that he doubts the authenticity of several video and audio tapes said to be from Osama bin Laden. TRT plans to start a 24-hour global news channel in English designed to expose how Bin Laden is "being manipulated" by other interests and expose the "manipulation" of Turkey in the U.S. media. The official said TRT English will bring the "true news" to people around the world but conceded that the new network will also "anger the big powers." The official said that his network has shown the Turkish people the killing of a popular journalist in Istanbul and false flag bombings in Istanbul and Ankara and that the Turkish people on the street are seeing through the game being played by the hidden deep state actors of Ergenekon.

The Ergenekon movement also operates its own non-governmental organizations (NGOs), many of which are run by retired generals. These think tanks are the source for much of the disinformation being used against the AKP, such as that it wants to re-establish a "caliphate" in Turkey. This propaganda is then picked up and disseminated by such neocon think tanks at the Jewish-run Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP) and the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA). The U.S. corporate media, such as The New York Times, laps up the Ergenekon propaganda after it is re-stamped with the Jewish imprimatur.

WMR has also learned of Israeli intelligence fingerprints on the assassination of popular Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink in 2007. In 2007, Dink was assassinated in Istanbul by a 17-year old Turkish nationalist linked to Ergenekon. There were reports that attempted to link Dink's assassination to Kurdish Hezbollah and Islamists. However, WMR has been told by reliable sources in Ankara that Dink had enraged the Israelis and Turkey's Jewish and crypto-Jewish supporters of Ergenekon by suggesting that the secret society "Young Turks" political party of the pre-World War I era in the Ottoman Empire -- the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP) --was backed by the Rothschild family of Germany to hasten the dismemberment of the Ottoman Empire -- an event that would enable the establishment of a Zionist state in Palestine. The political heirs of the CUP is the CHP -- which has been linked to Ergenekon. Dink had uncovered links between the CUP and a Sephardic Jew from Salonika named Emanuel Carasso, later changed to Karasu. Karasu, who was also the Grand Master of Macedonia Rissorta Freemason Lodge in Salonika, was the front for the Rothschilds in the Ottoman Empire and the primary backer of the CUP. It is interesting to note that the billionaire George Soros is very much like Caraso in that he fronts for the Rothschilds in influencing politics with large outlays on money around the world, including through Open Society Institute NGO constructs in Turkey.

More recently, a Turkish Jew named Tuncay Guney, now in exile in Canada, has been identified as a Turkish intelligence agent, code-named "Ipek" or "Silk," who worked with Ergenekon and infiltrated the Kurdish Worker's Party (PKK), the Gulen movement, and the police intelligence JITEM organization. However, WMR has learned that Guney had another employer, Israel's Mossad, and that his escape in June 2001 from Istanbul to New York was facilitated by the CIA station in Istanbul.

The following is another text translated into English of a Turkish government report on Ergenekon, including its role in the 2007 Council of State attack:

The investigation officially began after the Trabzon Gendarmerie Headquarters' tip-off line received an anonymous call on June 12, 2007 saying that 27 grenades and C-4 explosives belonging Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) were to be found at Güngör Sokak № 2, Çakmak Mahallesi, Ümraniye district, Istanbul. This led to arrests of two suspects, Oktay YILDIRIM and Mahmut ÖZTÜRK. An investigation of the network of acquaintances of the suspects turned up more information and snowballed into the present situation. First, a search of Yıldırım's office in Reina and Muzaffer TEKİN's house revealed a secret document titled "Ergenekon-Lobi" about the group's plans. Statements from detainees led to arrests of several other following suspects: Kuddusi OKKIR was arrested and a search in his place revealed the intelligence documents titled as “The Re-structure of the State”, “Attack on the Turkish Council of State” and “Atabey’s Operation.” Mehmet Zekeriya ÖZTÜRK was arrested with these documents: "Ergenekon-Lobi", “Reorganization of Gladio and Mafia in Turkey”, human smuggling and special reports on Alevi population along with some other top secret notes in his possession. Both Aydın YÜKSEK, who was dishonorably discharged from Turkish National Police, and Muzaffer ŞENOCAK, who introduced himself as an officer in the Special Forces, were arrested in accordance to testimonies of Ayşe Asuman ÖZDEMİR, Gazi GÜDER, Halil Behiç GÜRCİHAN and Muzaffer TEKİN. During ŞENOCAK’s interrogation, police retrieved enough probable cause to arrest Fikret EMEK, where police also seized long-barrel rifles, grenades, explosives and explosive components at his house. The investigation also identified the operational unit Kuvayı Milliye Derneği (National Forces Society), which was established legitimately. Later other organizational documents, assassination plans along with some other top secret documents were seized in the possession of Ismail YILDIZ and Ergun POYRAZ. For example, documents belonging to Turkish General Staff as well as Turkish Army Command along with several secretly collected records on civil servants, representatives, ministers and even about the prime minister were found at Ergun Poyraz possession.

Police also detected the other group members, who were under the command of Muzaffer TEKİN and Zekeriya ÖZTÜRK.

After corresponding with other state agencies, the officials found out that ETO (Ergenekon Terror Organization) had no affiliation with Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) as well as Turkish National Intelligence Agency (MIT).

Documents seized from Muzaffer TEKİN and testimonies as well as the statements from Tuncay GÜNEY helped to prove the existence of ETO and enlighten the official investigation. Consequently, the investigation identified the people like Veli KÜÇÜK and M. Fikri KARADAĞ along with organizations like Kuvayı Milliye Derneği (National Forces Society-1919) and Milli Güç Birliği (National Power Union) in regards to the ETO. This led to arrest of Veli KÜÇÜK, Sami HOŞTAN, Ali YASAK, Mehmet Zekeriya ÖZTÜRK, Güler KÖMÜRCÜ, Sevgi ERENEROL, Kemal KERİNÇSİZ, Ümit OĞUZTAN, Mehmet Fikri KARADAĞ Özer KORKMAZ, Abdullah ARAPOĞULLARI, Erdal İRTEM, Hüseyin Gazi OĞUZ, Kahraman ŞAHİN, Erkut ERSOY, Recep Gökhan SİPAHİOĞLU, Oğuz Alparslan ABDÜLKADİR, Raif GÖRÜM, Hüseyin GÖRÜM, Yaşar ARSLANKÖYLÜ, Tanju OKAN, Muhammet YÜCE, İlhan GÖKTAŞ, Atilla AKSU and Asım DEMİR. In fact, officials found the original documents which were mentioned in the testimonies of Tuncay GÜNEY along with several other notes, plans and documents related to structure of Ergenokon Terror Organization (ETO) in the home of Veli KÜÇÜK.

During the search at Sevgi ERENEROL’s house, police seized a document called Ergenekon in Depth as well as the card indexes that have private information on some university faculty members reflecting their “political, philosophical or religious views, ethnic backgrounds, unlawful, moral tendencies, sexual lives and/or relationships to any syndicates".

It was also revealed that Mehmet Fikri KARADAĞ had been planning to commit shocking assassinations. The structure of Turkish Revenge Brigades (Türk İntikam Tugayı - TİT) and the assassination plans were all decoded during this investigation. As a result, Emin GÜRSES, H. Ümit SAYIN, Vedat YENERER and other suspects were arrested.

Subgroups under the leadership of İlhan SELÇUK, Kemal Yalçın ALEMDAROĞLU and Doğu PERİNÇEK were revealed and several top secret government documents, attack plans against Supreme Court of Appeals (YARGITAY) and NATO were also seized. For example the headquarters of Labor Party and some of party officials had personnel files of NATO base and files on unlicensed guns, plans indicating the structure of headquarter cell-houses, assassination plans against the members of Supreme Court of Appeals (YARGITAY), documents about President Abdullah GÜL, which were taken exactly from the sections of indictment against AK Party and security details belonging to Yaşar BÜYÜKANIT, then-Chief of the Staff. In addition, a letter which was handwritten by İlhan SELÇUK indicated the payment of 500 thousand dollars for a job to be done by Oral ÇELİK and notes detailing this meeting regarding about this job were found in İ. SELÇUK’s possession.

Osman YILDIRIM identified both Veli KÜÇÜK and Muzaffer TEKİN as the masterminds behind the grenade attack against Cumhuriyet Newspaper and Council of State (DANIŞTAY) shooting.

THE FOUNDATION AND STRUCTURE OF THE ORGANIZATION

After 1999, the organization began to be more open in civil public. By writing the hierarchical structure, purpose and aims of the organization and dividing responsibilities of each unit among its members with its leadership, the organization has planed to establish a state-like structure within the state.

In these written documents, the members of ETO viewed themselves as the true owners of the state, saw all the other government officials as traitors; also believed that the Constitution alone was not enough to make country safe and secure; thus, they all agreed on the necessity of a secret government-like structure to govern the state behind the curtain and for this reason members should commit assassinations against the major targets , if necessary, to make everybody obedient to Ergenekon structure.

HOW DID SECURITY FORCES VIEW ETO?

According to the General Staff, the documents, which were seized during the raids, were all counterfeited and forged by a computer technology to look like documents written in accordance to Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) regulations. Turkish National Intelligence Agency (MİT) viewed ETO as group of people, who target the current regime using force for to advance their self-interests. On the other hand, the Turkish National Police saw ETO as a professional and skilled organization. An organization, which has a division of labor among its members, financial power to provide the training and logistics as well as the future action plans for these members; and an organization where more than three people have come together to exchange information and interact in secrecy around these mentioned aims and goals.

Overall, when the weapons and guns seized in many raids as along with detailed attack plans and blueprints of the Supreme Court of Appeals (YARGITAY) building and ETO’s compliance to kill policy are all taking into consideration, ETO is perfectly fits into the definition of armed terrorist organization in the Law on the Fight Against Terrorism.

THE ESSENTIAL DOCUMENTS OF THE ORGANIZATION

a-THE RESTRUCTURE OF THE ERGENEKON (from the original document dated October 29, 1999):

The document called “Ergenekon” defines the organization’s purpose, aims, modus operandi, membership profile, financial sources, and leadership cadres in details. According to Tuncay GÜNEY, this document was collaborative work of Doğu PERİNÇEK, Hasan YALÇIN, Deniz BİLGE, retired Colonel Suphi KARAMAN and himself in Bilecik province by Veli KÜÇÜK’s instruction. The title “PURPOSE” is stated as “to contribute the restructuring process of Ergenekon that operates within the Turkish Armed Forces”.

b-THE RE-STRUCTURE OF THE STATE (from the original document dated November 25, 1999): This document contains the titles like the re-structure of the state, campaign of revolution for the republican state, strengthening the Army’s position on Republican revolution, the organization of media and etc.

c-RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE RE-STRUCTURE OF THE STATE (Grand Plan, First Draft)

Under the section called “Unseen”, the underground structure is mentioned.

d-Document Titled “LOBI”(December 1999)

Like in the "Ergenekon" document, it has mentioned about the organization of non-military matters.

Overall, it was understood FROM THE SEARCH OF DOCUMENTS that;

…the organization has adopted the military discipline; therefore, the members, who have left or betrayed the organization, were subjected to death; the organization was in heavy preparations during 1999 and 2000; these documents were written to contribute the re-structure of the ERGENEKON; ETO’s operations have been underway for along time in Turkey but the first documentation about ETO has begun in 1999 and the document titled “ERGENEKON” was the constitution of the organization, whereas the other documents only constituted as subsidiaries to the organization.

THE AIMS OF ERGENEKON TERROR ORGANIZATION

Goal of Seizing the Power of State:

Suspects aimed to seize the power of state by infiltrating the all levels of government after various attempts.

Creating Chaos And Disruptions To Result A Coup (Plans And Actions):

In this context;

Flag burnings, use of provocative chanting during the funeral ceremonies of martyr soldiers and mass meetings aiming to create an ethnic conflict between Turkish and Kurdish populations were all organized and orchestrated by the members of ERGENEKON (As it was stated by İ. SELÇUK: “There are only two things left: There might be still hope, if the economic crise follows the AK party closing trial along with some more chaos”).

Both Gazi incidents andHablemitoğlu murder were instructed by Veli KÜÇÜK.

The attack plans against the Supreme Court of Appeals (YARGITAY), the NATO establishments in Izmir province and the crossover in front of the General Staff (the pictures, photos as well as sketches and notes regarding to these plans were all later found in the suspect’s homes and offices).

The bombing of Cumhuriyet Newspaper and Council Of State (DANIŞTAY) shooting were all enthused in accordance to Ergenekon plans.

The assassination plans against then-the chief of the Army Yaşar BÜYÜKANIT.

The seized documents indicated the establishment of so-called “National Forces” within the Turkish Armed Forces and planning of a coup by these forces.

The documents, Phosphorescence (Yakamoz), Moonlight (Ayışıgı), and Glove (Eldiven), which were seized from the suspects, Şener ERUYGUR, Hasan Atilla UĞUR, and Hurşit TOLON, revealed the procedures of the coup as well as the plans aiming to unify all civil societies under the National Force Union.

THE ARMED WING OF ETO

The official investigation detected the following names as the armed commando units:

1Abdullah ARAPOĞULLARI

2Abdulmuttalip TONÇER

3Ali KUTLU

4Coşkun ÇALIK

5Emin Caner YİĞİT

6Erol ÖLMEZ

7Kahraman ŞAHİN

8Muhammet YÜCE

9Murat ÇAĞLAR

10Özer KORKMAZ

11Saipir DEBZLELVİDZE

12Selim AKKURT

13Vatan BÖLÜKBAŞOĞLU

THE CATEGORIES OF CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR BY ETO

A-Infiltration to State for its organizational goals

B-The Illegal financial activities

C-Money Laundering Operations

D-Armed and Violent Operations

All the categories such criminal behaviors were stated in the document titled Re-structure of the State and the members have acted based on the stated goals within this document.

THE ORGANIC AND BASIC STRUCTURE OF THE ORGANIZATION

a)Secret Military Structure

1.Intelligence Unit

2.Operation Unit

3.Analysis and Evaluation Unit

4.Research Unit (So-called Commandership) within the Organiztion

b) Secret Units within the State Structure

1.Within the Legal Branch

2.Within the National Intelligence (MIT)

3.Within the National Police

4.Within the Academia

5.Within the other government branches.

c) Civillian Structure

1.Department of Theory Development and Planning

2.Department of Funding

3.Department of Non-governmental Organizations

4.Department of Mass Communication and Media

5.Private Security Companies

d) Organized Crime Structure

e) Fabricated (Artificial) Terror Organizations

UPPER MANAGEMENT STRUCTURE

According to Re-structure of the State document; CENTRAL ADMINISTRATION of Ergenekon should be established based on four commands and two civillian chiefteins:

1.Ergenekon Council

2.Intelligence Unit Command

3.Intelligence Analysis and Evaluation Command

4.Operational Unit Command

5.Logistical Unit Command

6.Theory Development and Planning Chair (civillian)

For example under the Control Unit; “It is an absolute necessity that this unit should not be known by anyone but the head or commander of Ergenekon. This unit must take its place in every operation and its primary duty is to clean up and handle the problems that might appear during an operation as well as to KILL A DOUBLE-AGENT, who has betrayed the organization, and/or was captured by the state forces and/or has acted against the rules and policies of the organization.”

HIERRACHIAL STRUCTURE AND LEADERSHIP

So far the official investigation revealed that İlhan SELÇUK, Veli KÜÇÜK, Doğu PERİNÇEK, Muzaffer TEKİN, Kemal Yalçın ALEMDAROĞLU and M. Fikri KARADAĞ were upper management people and the ones making important and secret decisions in the behalf of ETO.

Veli KÜÇÜK & Muzaffer TEKİN→ in charge of communication with leadership of ERGENEKON; served as the intermediarypeople between LOBI ERGENEKON civilian structure and the ETO leadership; established direct contact to non-governmental organizations and National Forces Societies (Kuvayı Milliye Dernekleri) as well as the masterminds (along with Sevgi ERENEROL and Kemal KERİNÇSİZ) of the activities done by these societies.

Fikri KARADAĞ → Founder of the National Forces Society. Participated in the open and secret meetings that took place atSevgi ERENEROL’s church; always consulted his opinions to the people, who joined these meetings. Established the armed wing of the organization as well as the intelligence units under the National Forces Society.

According to senior Turkish government, media, and civil society officials, the Turkish Ergenekon network, a successor to a Cold War-era Gladio stay-behind network established by NATO and the CIA in Turkey, Italy, West Germany, Spain, and other western European countries, is linked to neoconservative think tanks in Washington that all toe the pro-Israeli line.

The neocon think tanks, which, according to a senior Turkish government official, are indistinguishable from the Israel and right-wing Jewish lobbies in the United States. The Turkish Ergenekon network, centered in the military, MIT intelligence organization, certain Turkish think tanks, and among certain Turkish professors, has received assistance and encouragement from Israel's Mossad intelligence and Israel's supporters in the United States to step up the propaganda line that Turkey's reform-minded Justice and Development Party (AKP) is steering Turkey away from Europe and toward an Islamist and pro-Arab foreign policy. In fact, after a week in Turkey, WMR has witnessed first hand that the AKP's goals are to change Turkey's Constitution, imposed after two military coups d'etat, and guarantee freedom of speech, the press, minority and women's rights, and religious freedom for Christians, Jews, Alawites, and even atheists.

However, not happy with Turkey's probe of Ergenekon, which could spread to similar exposures of "deep state" operations in Azerbaijan, Syria, Egypt, and Lebanon, Israel has martialed its media and propaganda resources in Washington, DC and Turkey to paint Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan as a radical Islamist intent on transforming Turkey into an Islamic state in the mold of Libya's Muammar Qaddafi.The charges against Erdogan and his government have also been influenced because of the Turkish government's condemnation of Israel's attacks on Gaza and Lebanon, annexation of Palestinian territory in East Jerusalem and the West Bank, and Turkey's rapprochement with Syria. One senior Turkish Member of Parliament said that Turkey had even been likened to Malaysia by its detractors in the West.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy, eager to please the neocons and his Israeli friends, has been vehement in opposition to Turkey's membership in NATO. A Turkish MP said Sarkozy was nothing more than a racist. However, Sarkozy may be more concerned about Turkey than its recent criticism of Israel's policies in Gaza and East Jerusalem. If the Turkish government's investigation continues, it may reveal that Ergenekon-like "Deep States," with ties to the Turkish covert network, exist in other countries, including France. If there was an investigation of France's "Deep State," certain information on who and what funded and organized the France-wide arson attacks that propelled Sarkozy into office may be revealed. That, coupled with the real story behind the Clearstream bank account in Luxembourg that laundered money to politicians -- including Sarkozy -- may become a major problem for Sarkozy.The use of false flag terrorist attacks by Ergenekon in Turkey may also lead to similar attacks in other countries, including France and Germany, where Chancellor Angela Merkel has also expressed opposition to Turkey's membership in NATO.

A senior Turkish broadcast media official also charged that the neocon-constructed global villain, Osama Bin Laden, is being manipulated by certain quarters through the release of a series of audio tapes of questionable authenticity.

Israel and the neocons in the United States have purposely distorted what Ergenekon actually is, according to the Turkish media official. The demonization of Turkish reform parties pre-dates the neocon assault on the AKP. The AKP's root party, which did not share all the reform planks of the AKP, the Refah (Welfare) Party, was also also attacked when it was elected to office. It was ousted in 1998 when Turkey's military power guarantor, the Constitutional Court, ruled it illegal.

The AKP is seeking to amend the Constitution to eliminate the Constitutional Court's power since it retains the ability, according to the present Constitution, to declare the AKP, which won the last electrion with 47 percent of the vote, illegal and force it from power. The AKP continues to enjoy widespread support with a 42 percent favorability rating in the polls. The AKP's reforms are being resisted by the opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), which has been supportive of the chief Ergenekon conspiracists. Ironically, the CHP, a right-wing party, is afforded membership status in Socialist International.

Like the AKP, Refah stood accused by the Turkish "Deep State," operating through the Constitutional Court, of trying to impose an Islamic theocracy on Turkey.

The Turkish Deep State, also known as the Ergenekon network, has a parallel network operating in the United States that is trying to demonize the AKP by claiming it is attempting to overturn the secular state of Turkey. In reality, Ergenekon, working with Israeli and select Jewish interests in the United States, is trying to preserve the fascistic state established by Mustapha Kemal Ataturk after World War I. It is a state that suppressed not only the freedom of religion for Muslims, but also for Christians.

WMR has obtained details of the intelligence being collected on the American wing of Ergenekon, which, like its Turkish parent, is imbued in America's think tanks, universities, and military-industrial complex.

For example, Cetin Dogan, the former commander-in-chief of the First Army of Turkey based in Istanbul, is the father-in-law of Danni Rodrik, the Rafik Hariri professor of international political economy at Harvard University who has defended his father-in-law from accusations of involvement in Ergenekon. It just so happens that Dogan is accused of launching in November 2003 false flag terrorist bombings of the British Consulate and HSBC bank in Istanbul to whip up ferver against the AKP government. The false flag attack, blamed on "Al Qaeda," killed 27 people, including British Consul General Roger Short. British Prime Minister Tony Blair and President George W. Bush jumped on the "Al Qaeda" bandwagon in condemning the terrorist attacks.

The exposed links of Rodrik to his father-in-law, Dogan, in the Turkish media are discounted by the Ergenekon plotters as anti-Semitic because Rodrik is Jewish. Rodrik and Dogan's daughter, Pinar Dogan, have launched a public relations campaign in the United States in support of General Dogan.

Later, Cetin was named as one of the accused masterminds of OPERATION SLEDGEHAMMER) ("Balyoz"), a plot to detonate bombs in Istanbul’s mosques during Friday prayesr, bomb museums crowded with tourists, and shoot down a Turkish fighter jet and blame it on a Greek attack. The operation was designed to put pressure on the AKP government and then launch a military coup.

Orhan Cengiz, President of the Human Rights Agenda Association and himself a target of Ergenekon -- most visible by the presence of his government-supplied bodyguard -- explained that Ergenekon is a "network of hitmen, conspirators, and many others with international connections." Cengiz also said there are sympathizers who promote Ergenekon and whitewash its activities but are not members of Ergenekon. There are journalists and business people who fall into both categories of members and sympathizers. Cengiz said that the Secretary General of the opposition CHP, Deniz Baykal, is an advocate for Ergenekon.

In addition, Cengiz said Israel wants to use Ergenekon to pressure the Erdogan government away from its reformed foreign policy that seeks new relations with Syria and Iran and is more robust in criticizing Israeli policies toward the Palestinians. There is now a strong alliance between Ergenekon and Israel. Israel's friends and operatives in the pro-Israeli media are painting the investigation of Ergenekon as a "political case with no substance." That theme has been echoed by such pro-Israel entities as The New York Times.

Cengiz said Ergenekon sees itself as the "guardian of the secular system" in Turkey.

Cengiz also stated that there is a strong Ergenekon lobby in the United States and other places, including Russia.

One particular critic of the AKP and the Ergenekon investigation is Central Asia-Caucasus Institute and the Silk Road Studies Program non-resident senior fellow Gareth Jenkins, a British national. The program is partly sponsored by the U.S. government and has held joint programs with George Soros's Open Society Institute. WMR learned from informed sources that Jenkins's job in Turkey is to talk down the Ergenekon network and destroy the criminal case against it. Our sources revealed that Jenkins has the ears of many foreign ambassadors in Ankara.

Other identified supporters of Ergenekon in Washington, according to Turkish government sources, are former CIA station chief in Kabul and Iran-contra schemer Graham Fuller; arch-neocon Michael Rubin of the American Enterprise Institute; and Zeyno Baran of the neocon Hudson Institute. The Hudson Institute actually hosted one of the Ergenekon generals, Deputy Chief of the Turkish General Staff, Ergin Saygun, at a conference in Washington on November 17, 2006. Baran is married to Matthew Bryza, the U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs and a past interlocutor for neocon-led covert operations in Georgia, Ukraine, and other Caucasus and Black Sea countries.

Another key player in the anti-AKP network in Washington is Soner Cagaptay of the neocon and pro-Israel Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP). Cagaptay is also taking part in an anti-AKP seminar in New York on April 26 sponsored by the pro-Israel Levin Institute.

There are also revelations that Ergenekon attempted to oust Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit in 2002, prior to the AKP's victory in the election. On May 4, 2002, Ecevit became ill and was transported to Baskent University hospital in Ankara. After being sent home, Ecevit fell and broke his rib and was returned to the hospital. Ecevit's condition worsened. The investigation of Ergenekon is now focusing on whether Ergenekon generals were working with Baskent doctors to try to totally incapacitate Ecevit or kill him, thus paving the way for his deputy prime minister, Hüsamettin Özkan of the coalition partner Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), to take over. Ozkan was much more to the liking of the military. The prime minister's wife, Rahsan Ecevit, barred Baskent doctors from seeing her husband.

Ecevit was the first Turkish political leader to expose the existence of the Gladio "stay behind" network in Turkey. He said he first learned of the NATO secret unit in 1974. As Prime Minister between January 26 to November 17, 1974, Ecevit asked to see documents in Gladio. He revealed that he was banned from seeing the Gladio documents by more powerful forces. A few weeks before the 1977 general election, which Ecevit's party won, snipers began firing on a rally of 500,000 people in Taksim Square in Istanbul. The snipers killed 389 people and wounded hundreds of others. Ecevit linked the massacre to Gladio. Ecevit was jailed after being ousted in the military coup led by General Kenan Evren in 1980. Ecevit died on November 5, 2006, after suffering the cerebral hemorrhage the previous May. He had been in an induced coma since the hemorrhage.

Prime Minister Turgut Ozal, the leader of the Motherland Party, from which many AKP leaders began their political careers, narrowly survived an assassination attempt by a Gladio assassin on June 8, 1988. A shooter narrowly missed Ozal's head but he was struck in the finger. The assassination attempt was linked to the head of the Ergenekon nest, the National Security Council. Ozal became President of Turkey in 1989. Ozal died of a suspicious heart attack on 17 April 1993. Ozal's wife Semra, claimed Ozal was poisoned by lemonade. There was no autopsy and blood samples taken from his body disappeared.

Turkey is carrying out an investigation of the secret network discovered by Ecevit. The European Parliament called on all member nations to investigate Gladio in 1990, with little ever accomplished to expose the Deep States throughout Europe.

On November 22, 1990, the European Parliament passed a resolution on Operation Gladio.

Joint resolution replacing B3-2021, 2058, 2068, 2078 and 2087/90

A. having regard to the revelation by several European governments of the existence for 40 years of a clandestine parallel intelligence and armed operations organization in several Member States of the Community,

B. whereas for over 40 years this organization has escaped all democratic controls and has been run by the secret services of the states concerned in collaboration with NATO,

C.fearing the danger that such clandestine network may have interfered illegally in the internal political affairs of Member States or may still do so,

D.whereas in certain Member States military secret services (or uncontrolled branches thereof) were involved in serious cases of terrorism and crime as evidenced by, various judicial inquiries,

E. whereas these organizations operated and continue to operate completely outside the law since they are not subject to any parliamentary control and frequently those holding the highest government and constitutional posts are kept in the dark as to these matters,

F.whereas the various 'Gladio' organizations have at their disposal independent arsenals and military ressources which give them an unknown strike potential, thereby jeopardizing the democratic structures of the countries in which they are operating or have been operating,

G. greatly concerned at the existence of decision-making and operational bodies which are not subject to any form of democratic control and are of a completely clandestine nature at a time when greater Community cooperation in the field of security is a constant subject of discussion,

1. Condemns the clandestine creation of manipulative and operational networks and Calls for a full investigation into the nature, structure, aims and all other aspects of these clandestine organizations or any splinter groups, their use for illegal interference in the internal political affairs of the countries concerned, the problem of terrorism in Europe and the possible collusion of the secret services of Member States or third countries;

2. Protests vigorously at the assumption by certain US military personnel at SHAPE and in NATO of the right to encourage the establishment in Europe of a clandestine intelligence and operation network;

3. Calls on the governments of the Member States to dismantle all clandestine military and paramilitary networks;

4. Calls on the judiciaries of the countries in which the presence of such military organizations has been ascertained to elucidate fully their composition and modus operandi and to clarify any action they may have taken to destabilize the democratic structure of the Member States;

5.Requests all the Member States to take the necessary measures, if necessary by establishing parliamentary committees of inquiry, to draw up a complete list of organizations active in this field, and at the same time to monitor their links with the respective state intelligence services and their links, if any, with terrorist action groups and/or other illegal practices;

6. Calls on the Council of Ministers to provide full information on the activities of these secret intelligence and operational services;

7. Calls on its competent committee to consider holding a hearing in order to clarify the role and impact of the 'Gladio' organization and any similar bodies;

8. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Commission, the Council, the Secretary-General of NATO, the governments of the Member States and the United States Government."

Turkey, which aspires to become an EU member, is doing more than any EU member in investigating its Gladio offshoot, Ergenekon.

Over the past two decades, three U.S. ambassadors in Ankara, Marc Grossman, Robert Pearson, and Eric Edelman, have been linked, according to those WMR spoke to in Ankara and Istanbul, to Ergenekon, including its Deep State functions in the United States.

The involvement of three U.S. ambassadors in what is known as ETO -- Ergenekon Treror Network -- should make every American pause. In effect, the U.S. State Department had three envoys in Ankara that supported a terrorist organization responsible for, among other atrocities, the following:

The Hizb ut-Tahrir (Party of Liberation), an extreme group wishing to reinstate the Islamic Caliphate"

The danger of the Ergenekon investigation resulting in disclosure of its American links has CIA and other U.S. government covert planners, in concert with their Ergenekon counterparts, considering three options:

1. Assassinating Prime Minister Erdogan

2. Convince the Turkish Constitutional Court to declare the governing AKP illegal and close it down.

3. Craft a CHP-Nationalist coalition government that would stop the Ergenekon investigation.

Senior AKP officials fear that the second option, closure of the party, could happen at any moment. The Turkish judicial system is also rife with Ergenekon members and supporters, including the Chief Prosecutor of Istanbul.

The fact that Christians including priests and Protestant missionaries, have been killed by Ergenekon and that the terror network's Washington lobby is supported by American Jews like Grossman and Edelman, and Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA) habitués like Pearson, will not sit well with Americans who have been made ignorant of Ergenekon's facts thanks to Israeli Lobby control over the corporate American media. Ergenekon also planned the assassinations of Kurds, Armenians, and Alawites in Operation Cage. The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), in switching its support from Turkey to Armenians in supporting the passage of the recent House resolution condemning the World War I-era massacre of the Armenians, may think twice when it becomes common knowledge that American Jewish supporters of Ergenekon have aided in modern-day massacres of Armenians in Turkey. In addition, Freemason and Sephardic Jew, Emanuel Carasso, a Greek emigre to Turkey, provided significant support for the CUP and Young Turks on behalf of the Rothschild banking family. Carasso's son, Daniel, started the food giant Danone, from a small yogurt business.

A senior AKP leader also revealed that Ergenekon is heavily involved in arms smuggling. The official also stated that Ergenekon has extensions of its network in Washington, DC and Moscow and that this involves diplomats, military officers, and civilians. In the planned 2003 Sledgehammer coup against Erdogan, it was discovered that the coup plotters could call on some 40 journalists to support the coup. On the other hand, several other journalists were identified by name among those to be arrested by the coup leaders.

A Turkish government official also admitted that the FBI was ordered to stop its investigation of Turkish bribes and other activities involving the American Turkish Council in Washington because it would "hurt arms smuggling." The details of the investigation into the Turkish smuggling and espionage network were revealed by fired FBI Turkish translator Sibel Edmonds. A number of Turks, including government officials, have either never heard of Edmonds or consider her to be unreliable because the Turkish press contingent in Washington were pressured into either ignoring Edmonds in their copy sent to Turkey from Washington or described her as mentally unstable or unreliable.

One Turkish correspondent in Washington was not as sanguine. After Milliyet correspondent Yasemin Congar reported on the Hudson Institute's connection to Ergenekon she was fired.

The senior AKP official also stated that the Turkish coup plotters are friends of the United States and that this has been the case for quite some time. He recalled when U.S. ambassador to Ankara, James Spain, called the 1980 coup plotters who ousted Ecevit as "our boys."

One of the most sensitive aspects to the current exposure by the Turkish government of the Ergenekon terror network in Turkey is the links the group have with similar "Gladio" and "false flag" terrorist networks in other nations, including the United States, Russia, Greece, Spain, Italy, Israel, and France. A number of Turkish officials told WMR that such links have been established by many of these political leaders and human rights leaders were reluctant to describe the closeness of the relations between Ergenekon, a shadowy network of military officers, politicians, judges, businessmen, professors, drug cartels, terrorist groups, and journalists, to similar "deep state" organizations in other countries.

A Turkish parliamentary inquiry discovered links between Ergenekon and the U.S. embassy in Ankara and former Vice President Dick Cheney and former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. The U.S. ambassador to Turkey, Marc Grossman, and his military attache, Major Douglas Dickerson, were recalled from Ankara in 1997 after it was discovered that they were involved with Ergenekon elements in trying to overthrow the government of Azerbaijani President Haydar Aliyev. Grossman is currently the vice chairman of the Cohen Group, founded by former Defense Secretary William Cohen. Grossman also serves on the board of trustees of Istanbul's Roberts College, a one-time American university that counted two Turkish Prime Ministers and scores of Turkish cabinet ministers, businessmen and diplomats among its alumni. The college is now a lycee, a private preparatory high school.

Ergenekon was used by the CIA to bolster the agency's operations in countries of the former Soviet Union that form part of the old Turkic empire. The Turkic realm includes Azerbaijan and Kyrgyzstan. There are reports from Kyrgyzstan that Kyrgyz special forces used foreign snipers using exotic weaponry to kill demonstrators during the recent coup against President Kurmanbek Bakiyev.

Kurmanbek's brother, Zhanysh Bakiyev, reportedly hired Georgian, Chechen, and Latvian mercenaries to attack the demonstrators. President Bakiyev was also entertaining an offer from the United States to establish a second U.S. military base in Kyrgyzstan's southern Fergana Valley region, a hotbed of Bakiyev supporters where Bakiyev is now holed up while refusing to give up power. The proposed U.S. base in the Fergana Valley, closer to Afghanistan, would have complemented the U.S. air base at Manas, outside of Bishkek. The future of the Manas airbase is now in doubt after it has been revealed that U.S. payments for the base ended up in the foreign bank accounts of both President Bakiyev and his son, Maxim Bakiyev, who, it should be noted, was due to attend an economic investment conference in Washington, DC on April 8, co-sponsored by the U.S. Department of Commerce and the Kyrgyz-North America Trade Council.

The Council's website lists as board members ousted Kyrgyz Prime Minister Igor V. Chudonov; Douglas Renfield-Miller, the council's president and former investment banker for UBS; Marc Miller; Zamira Sydykova, Kyrgyz ambassador to the United States and a former editor-in-chief of Res Publica, a George Soros-funded propaganda operation; and Kenneth Hansen of Chadbourne & Park in Washington, DC and an oil and natural gas investment counselor.

Maxim Bakiyev served as the chief of the Kyrgyz Central Agency for Development, Investment, and Innovation and is now wanted by the new Kyrgyz government on criminal charges. However, the Obama administration, adhering to the CIA's and Soros's global agenda -- an agenda that is on the same economic and political page -- is refusing to disclose Maxim Bakiyev's whereabouts. The U.S. embassy in Bishkek is remaining mum on whether the Obama administration is considering Maxim Bakiyev political asylum.

The Kyrgyz operations by Bakiyev parallel those of Ergenekon's foreign operations in Azerbaijan, Russia, and other Turkic-speaking countries and regions

The Ergenekon link to Russia is primarily through Levent (Lev) Ersöz, the alleged sales director of Rosoboronexport, the Russian arms exporter. Ersoz fled Turkey after an arrest warrant was issued for him.

A Turkish Foreign Ministry official, when informed about Turkish intelligence bribes and blackmail of American politicians and the role played by the American Turkish Council (ATC) in lobbying in Washington and working closely with the American Israel Pubic Affairs Committee (AIPAC), replied, "It sounds a lot like Ergenekon." A leading Turkish human rights campaigner said he was told by Turkish sources in Washington that there was no such organization as Ergenekon. In fact, the Obama administration is hoping that the government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan would simply drop the Ergenekon investigation. Obama officials are clearly concerned that the Ergenekon investigation will soon lead to the CIA in Langley and the lobbying firms on K Street.

WMR learned in Ankara that successive Turkish military attaches at the Turkish embassy in Washington were key players in Ergenekon. After the revelations by former FBI Turkish and Azeri translator Sibel Edmonds about the Turkish "deep state" operations in the United States, the FBI ordered and end to its investigation of the Turkish embassy and the ATC because the investigation would harm "arms smuggling" being carried out with the knowledge of the Bush administration, particularly Cheney and Rumsfeld. WMR also learned that the United States and Israel are worried where the Ergenekon investigation will lead.

Senior Turkish officials also revealed to WMR that the Ergenekon investigation could lead to the expsore of similar deep state networks tied to Israel and the United States in Azerbaijan, Syria, and Egypt. The attack on the Turkish economy in 2006 has also been linked to Ergenekon working with Soros, according to one senior Turkish government official.

In addition, during the 1990s, FBI wiretaps of the Turkish embassy and the ATC in Washington yielded intelligence on the use of Ergenekon and the Gray Wolves paramilitary terrorist group to funnel weapons to the U.S.- and "Al Qaeda"-supported Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) in the Balkans. The intelligence also pointed to a link between Ergenekon, the KLA, and drug trafficking into the Balkans, through Turkey, from Afghanistan.

A senior and influential Turkish parliamentary official told WMR that because the Turkish "deep state" cannot win at the ballot box they have resorted to using members of Turkey's diaspora abroad to seek support for a coup against the Justice and Development Party (AKP) and propagandize that Turkey's government is Islamic and intent of re-veiling women. Certain influential members of the diaspora are conspiring with Jewish supporters of Israel abroad to demonize the Erdogan government, according to the source. In addition, Turkish "deep state" members are often flying to Washington, DC to blur the picture that the United States has of Turkey. The "deep state" representatives, working through neocon organizations like the American Enterprise Institute, Jewish-led Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP), the Hudson Institute, the Jewish-led Levin Institute in Manhattan, and the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA) are prompting their American counterparts to inform the Obama administration that the Ergenekon case has gone on too long. In fact, WMR reported that during President Obama's last meeting with Erdogan, the president called on the Turkish Prime Minister to release some of the jailed Ergenekon figures. The request to Erdogan placed Obama isquarely n the corner of the Ergenekon coup plotters and Israel.

Turkish President Abdullah Gul (r.) after being presented with a copy of editor's (l.) book on America's "deep state" -- "Jaded Tasks."

The Turkish parliamentary official revealed that there were "entrepreneurial military activities" at the Turkish embassy in Washington, DC involving members of the Turkish military attache staff. In effect, the Turkish official, who is also a former Turkish military officer, confirmed the claims by Edmonds that the embassy was involved in paying bribes to U.S. politicians and engaged in espionage.

The Turkish parliamentarian said that the recent election in Ukraine, the revolt in Kyrgyzstan, and the opposition to the government in Georgia was part of a "political correction" going on in eastern Europe and central Asia. He said that the neocons have permitted "democracy" to become a tainted word in central Asia. He added that the political reforms in Turkey were inspiring people in central Asia and the Middle East to rise up against their own "deep states." Such a development endangers the status quo, especially Israel's jaded interests in the Middle East. When the state serves its citizens, rather than the citizens serving the state, the member of parliament said entrenched interests are threatened.

What is occuring in Turkey is akin to arrest warrants being issued for ex-members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and intelligence services, as well as the President's National Security Adviser and the assistant director of the FBI in the United States for their roles in planning and committing "false flag" terrorist attacks on U.S. soil, including a certain incident on September 11, 2001.

WMR has also learned of links between Ergenekon and the Greek "leftist" terrorist group November 17. The November 17 group has carried out a number of terrorist attacks against American and British targets in Greece but the connections to Ergenekon suggest that the November 17 group is a by-product of Greece's own Gladio network. On June 8, 2000, motorcycle gunmen, claimed to be members of November 17, shot and killed Brigadier Stephen Saunders, the British military attache in Athens, as he was driving to work. British intelligence verified published claims that Saunders was assassinated by Greece's version of Ergenekon, a Gladio follow-on "deep state" network called "Sheepskin." British MI-6 also discovered links between Sheepskin and Ergenekon. The Greek government maintains that Sheepskin was dismantled in 1988. However, there are indications that the Gladio networks in Europe have merely morphed into new networks that serve the interests of the United States and Israel.

There are Gladio networks and theirfollow-ons in France, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Switzerland, Austria, Greece and Turkey. In Spain, Gladio may have reared its head in the political prosecution of Spain's human rights judge, Baltasar Garzon. Garzon brought criminal charges against Chile's dictator Augusto Pinochet and began an inquiry into the war crimes of Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld. However, it was Garzon's announced plans to investigate the over 100,000 disappearances during the Spanish Civil War and Francisco Franco dictatorship that has earned Garzon his own criminal prosecution by the Spanish state -- the "deep state." In France, Gladio, also known as "Plan Bleu," may be at the heart of the French arson attacks that propelled Nicolas Sarkozy into the French presidency. WMR previously reported that many of the attacks were "false flag" operations carried out by Sarkozy's Interior Ministry operatives to fan anti-Islamic fervor in France.

A number of retired Turkish generals and admiral are now before the courts answering questions about their role in attempting to overthrow the AKP government, an operation officially known as the Sledgehammer ("Balyoz") Security Operation Plan. A lost of attendees at a 2003 Sledgehammer planning seminar has also been revealed. The mastermind of Sledgehammer is allegedly retired Turkish First Army chief General Cetin Dogan. Dogan is accusing the former chief of the Turkish General Staff General Hilmi Ozkok of releasing all the Sledgehammer documents. Ozkok is being praised for preventing a coup against the government and revealing the secrets of the Ergenekon network.

Other documents released in the probe of Ergenekon involve the Cage (Kafes) Operation Action Plan, a series of assassinations of prominent non-Muslims in Turkey that would be used by Ergenekon to suggest the AKP government was unable to control Muslim extremists. Prominent Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink is believed to be one of the victims of Cage. A police report has determined that Ibrahim Sahin, the National Police Department's Special Operations Unit deputy chief, was the mastermind behind the Cage operation.

Another Ergenekon action plan is titled the Action Plan to Combat [Islamic] Reactionaryism." The plan calls for assassinations masked as suicides, as well as bombings and other terrorist attacks that would influence public opinion.

Among those arrested for involvement in Ergenekon are a "Who's Who" of Turkish political and military society, including:

o Sener Eruygur, Retired Full General and Former Head of Turkish Gendarmerie

WMR has obtained a 10-year chronology of Ergenekon activities from 1996 to 2009:

3 November 1996

A traffic accident near the small town of Susurluk, brought illegal organizations to light.

The “deep state” phenomenon has surfaced for the first time by a traffic accident near the small town of Susurluk. A police officer, a deputy and a convicted fugitive were in the same car. This accident, which is called as “Susurluk Scandal”, revealed the relations between state, politics and mafia. Civil society supported the investigation by concerted actions called “one minute of darkness for perpetual light”. However, Necmettin Erbakan, then the prime minister, declared allegations as nonsense. Despite huge public support, the investigation proved fruitless due to lack of political backing. Lack of political support was the most evident with regard to Veli Küçük. The retired brigadier general, who is now an Ergenekon detainee, refused to testify in front of the Parliamentary Investigation Commission for Susurluk.

1997

The name Ergenekon, as a clandestine organization, was first pronounced.

The name Ergenekon, as a clandestine organization, was first pronounced by Erol Mutercimler, a retired naval officer and a current detainee in the Ergenekon case. Soon after him, journalists Can Dündar and Celal Kazdağlı wrote a book entitled Ergenekon, pointing to illegal organizations within state in this name. Official recording of the word also corresponds to these dates. At 10 March 1997, Ümit Oğuztan -a current detainee in the Ergenekon case- wrote a petition for the then ongoing Susurluk Commission. In his petition, he mentioned an organization named Ergenekon, and defined this organization as the Turkish Gladio.

2001

First official document was found related with Ergenekon

Tuncay Güney, an Ergenekon suspect, and a key witness of Ergenekon probe, had been investigated due to an ordinary fraud case. During the search at Güney’s office, police found documents about the organizational structure of Ergenekon. Further research had led to some reports prepared by police and intelligence services. However no concrete action was taken.

9 November 2005

Two junior officers were caught red-handed during an illegal bombing.

At 9 November 2005, two junior officers and a PKK informant bombed the Umut Bookstore belonging to Seferi Yılmaz at the Şemdinli district of Hakkari. One person died during this attack; however perpetrators of the attack were caught by bystanders and delivered to police officers. After the public prosecutor came to place for investigation, fire was opened on the crowd and another person lost his life. The investigations showed that, the car used by the assailants belonged to Gendarmerie Forces. Searches within the car revealed a list of 105 people, three Kalashnikovs belonging to Gendarmerie, bombs and plans of various home and workplaces.

The incident grew, when Yaşar Büyükanıt, then Commander of the Army, backed these two junior officers by saying “I know them, they are good men”. Prosecutor, Ferhat Sarıkaya, expanded the investigation with the claim that the unearthed gang might have connections with high ranking officials, however, he was disbarred by the Supreme Board of Prosecutors and Judges. Two junior officers were sentenced to 39 years. However, the Supreme Court of Appeals decided that a military court should be in charge of the investigation. Both officers were released after their first trial in the military court. Throughout the process, the government was accused by the public for not backing the case just as happened during Susurluk trials.

5 February 2006

Father Andrea Santoro was murdered in Trabzon.

Father Andrea Santoro, who was a Catholic priest in the Santa Maria Church in Trabzon, was murdered by a 16 year old ultranationalist. The murderer was caught after two days with his gun.

5-11 May 2006

Cumhuriyet daily was bombed three times during May 2006.

At 5, 10 and 11 May 2006, Cumhuriyetdaily, a staunchly Kemalist newspaper, has been target of hand grenades three times. Initially, the journal accused the Islamists for being the perpetrators of the attacks, and for aiming to intimidate the Kemalist journal. A large public campaign was started, in which people were called to back the journal and the republic. (Cumhuriyet means republic in Turkish.) However, later on, Ergenekon investigation unearthed that the bombs used in these attacks belonged to the military and has the same cache number with the bombs discovered in Ümraniye, which led to the start of Ergenekon investigation. The journal itself accepted that the bombings were Ergenekon operations two years later, on 15 July 2008.

17 May 2006

Council of State had been attacked; a senior judge was shot dead.

While the political tension was rising, due to the bombings of Cumhuriyetdaily, Alparslan Arslan, who was later discovered to be the perpetrator of these bombings, had attacked the Council of State leaving a senior judge dead. Initially the attack was linked to Islamist extremists, while Alparslan Arslan, found guilty of the Council of State killing, also said he attacked the court in protest of an anti-headscarf ruling it had made. But Ergenekon investigation discovered evidence that, he was connected with Ergenekon. In 17 December 2008, both cases; the bombing of Cumhuriyet and the attack on the Council of State, were merged under the Ergenekon case.

18 January 2007

Armenian journalist Hrant Dink was shot dead in front of his newspaper Agos.

Editor in Chief of Agosdaily, Hrant Dink was shot dead in front of his newspaper Agos, by a 17 year old ultranationalist. The assassin, Ogün Samast, was captured the same day. Hrant Dink was sentenced by the article 301 of Turkish penal code, which punishes denigrating Turkishness. Most of the people who had been involved in filing Dink’s case, are now imprisoned due to Ergenekon case, pointing to the possible involvement of Ergenekon in this murderous plot. After the assassination, Dink’s family declared that, Hrant Dink was suspicious of Veli Küçük’s desire to kill him.

25 March 2007

Nokta journal published “Coup diaries”.

A weekly journal Nokta, published the diaries of retired Commander of Navy Özden Örnek. Diaries revealed that during 2004, top commanders in Turkish Armed Forces were plotting a coup d’etat. The mastermind of the plot was seen as Şener Eruygur, a key suspect in Ergenekon investigation. Örnek denied the diaries and claimed that he had never written them, and filed against the journal. Following week, the headquarters of Nokta was raided by the police and later on Noktaterminated itself due to increasing pressure. However, in the case of investigation, in Mart 2008, it is technically proven that diaries were taken from the personal computer of Özden Örnek. These diaries constitute the backbone of the second Ergenekon indictment, submitted on 10 March 2009.

18 April 2007

Three Christians were killed in an attack at a publishing house in Malatya.

Three months after the Dink assassination, a publishing house in Malatya was attacked and three Christians, one of whom is a German citizen were killed. Likewise in the Dink assassination, the perpetrators were ultranationalist youngsters and they were linked with some of the key Ergenekon suspects. This case was also later merged with Ergenekon on 21 November 2008.

12 June 2007

First Wave-27 hand grenades were found during a police raid to a shanty house in Ümraniye.

27 hand grenades were found during a police raid to a shanty house in Ümraniye. These bombs have the same cache number with the bombs used during the bombings of Cumhuriyet daily. Later, the investigation revealed links with these bombs and the retired officer Muzaffer Tekin. Muzaffer Tekin has links with the Council of State shooter Alparslan Arslan, and also with the retired general Veli Küçük and lawyer Kemal Kerinçsiz. This started the process that led to unearthing of Ergenekon. This police raid and subsequent arrests were later called as the first wave of Ergenekon. In this first wave, the retired Captain Muzaffer Tekin, retired Junior Officers Oktay Yıldırım and Mahmut Öztürk and Bekir Öztürk, head of an ultranationalist group called Kuvva-yı Milliye, were arrested.

26 June 2007

Second Wave-Weapons and explosives were found in Eskişehir.

Police raided a house belonging to the mother of the retired Major Fikret Emek and found large amounts of weapons and explosives. Emek has been arrested. Later as the investigation deepened, writer Ergun Poyraz, retired Captain Gazi Güder and four other people got arrested.

21 January 2008

Third Wave-Veli Küçük got arrested.

31 people including retired Brigadier General Veli Küçük, retired Colonel and also head of an ultranationalist group called Kuvva-yı Milliye, Fikri Karadağ, retired Captain Mehmet Zekeriya Öztürk, lawyer Kemal Kerinçsiz, Akşam columnist Güler Kömürcü, the spokesperson of the Turkish Orthodox Patriarchate Sevgi Erenerol, Susurluk case convict Sami Hoştan, mafia leaders Sedat Peker, Ali Yasak (known as Drej Ali) and Ümit Oğuztan got arrested. During the interrogation of the suspects, police reached to a death list which includes, Nobel Laureate Orhan Pamuk, journalist Fehmi Koru, mayor of Diyarbakır Osman Baydemir, and deputies of DTP Ahmet Türk, Sabahat Tuncel and former deputy Leyla Zana. According to the list, Orhan Pamuk was the first target and even two people were hired for the assassination.

13 people including Doğu Perinçek, leader of the Workers’ Party, Kemal Alemdaroğlu, former president of İstanbul University, İlhan Selçuk, chief columnist of the Cumhuriyetdaily were detained. Alemdaroğlu and Selçuk were released, while Perincek was arrested.

26 March 2008

Coup diaries were verified.

Coup diaries that had been published at the April of 2007, by Noktajournal were techically proven to be extracted from the personal computer of Özden Örnek. Alper Görmüş, chief editor of Nokta journal acquitted from the cases filed against him, but the court also ruled that there is no need for further investigation. These diaries are part of the second indictment of Ergenekon case.

Taraf daily claimed that, Osman Paksüt, Deputy President of the Constitutional Court, and İlker Başbuğ, then the Commander of Army, met on 4 March 2008, two weeks before the filing of closure case against AKP. After initial denial, both sides confirmed the meeting.

5 July 2008

Sixth Wave-Retired generals were arrested.

Police detained the former Commander of the Gendermarie General Şener Eruygur, former Commander of the 1. Army General Hurşit Tolon, Sinan Aygün, a businesman and the chairman of the Ankara Chamber of Commerce (ATO), and Mustafa Balbay, Cumhuriyet's Ankara representative. Eruygur and Tolon were arrested, while Balbay and Aygün were released, but Balbay got arrested again at 06 March 2009.

7 July 2008

“Eldiven” (Glove) coup plot was discovered.

Documents that were found in the office of Şener Eruygur, revealed a third coup plan other than the two plans that were revealed by the coup diaries. After the failure of Yellow girl and Moonlight, Eruygur seems to have lost the support of the other commanders, and according to the Eldiven document, he planned a coup himself. During the same search, it is also revealed that Eruygur filed documents about the then Chieff of Staff Yaşar Büyükanıt.

9 July 2008

American Consulate was attacked.

Three police officers and the assault were shot dead during the fight. It is found that Erkan Kargın, one of the assailants, had several phone contacts with some of the Ergenekon suspects.

9 July 2008

Özkök made an interview with the Milliyet daily; he didn’t deny the allegations at the coup diaries.

At the interview he gave to Milliyetdaily, Hilmi Özkök, former Chieff of Staff didn’t deny the allegations that, during his term some of the top commanders had been involved in a coup plot. When asked about testifying in front of the court, he said that he would think about it when the time comes. At April 2009, he secretly testified to the prosecutors of Ergenekon investigation.

14 July 2008

First indictment was presented to the court.

First indictment was presented to the 13th Branch of the Istanbul Court for Serious Crimes and the court accepted the indictment at 25th of July, thus the trial started officially. Suspects arrested after the fifth wave and the allegations related with coup diaries are not included in this indictment. Detainees between the sixth and tenth waves and the coup diaries are included in the second indictment. The first indictment is 2455 pages long and it includes many shady events in Turkey’s history like the assassination of Uğur Mumcu, a prominent journalist and the Gazi events and the recent attacks on the Cumhuriyet buildings and the attack on the Council of State.

23 July 2008

Police launched the seventh wave of arrests.

A new wave of arrests in the Ergenekon investigation has targeted senior members of the Workers' Party, and staff members of the conservative Milli Çözüm (National Solution) magazine. According to reports, police detained 26 people around the country under the direction of the Istanbul Prosecutor's Office.

14 August 2008

Retired Colonel Arif Doğan was arrested.

Police raided the home of retired colonel Arif Doğan, and found large amounts of explosives and weapons (2 kalashnikoves, 1000 bullets, 1000 empty bullets and 280 hand grenades). Doğan was arrested. Doğan has worked as the Diyarbakır chief of JİTEM before Veli Küçük. With his arrest, the Ergenekon probe has passed towards the east of Euphrates, meaning that illegal acts and organizations formed during the war on terror in the Southeastern Turkey will be investigated for the first time. In the course of investigation, it is found that Doğan had transferred one million dollars to one of his relatives in USA, while he was serving at Yalova. The source of the money is yet unidentified.

Three days after the appointment of İlker Başbuğ as the new Chieff of Staff, Kocaeli Garrison Commander Lieut. Gen. Galip Mendi paid a visit to imprisoned generals Şener Eruygur and Hurşit Tolon. The visit is made public by a statement posted on the website of General Staff. The statement declared that, the visit is made on behalf of the Turkish Armed Forces.

18 September 2008

Eighth wave was launched.

At the eighth wave of arrests at Ergenekon probe, acting officers are arrested for the first time. Five lieutenants and a military school student, Levent Temiz, former head of Nationalist Hearths, artist Nurseli İdiz and talent agent Seyhan Soylu are among the eleven detainees. The lieutenants are accused to be part of Headquarter Homes (Karargah Evleri), a sub branch of Ergenekon.

23 September 2008

Ninth wave was launched.

Sixteen more people were arrested including journalist Tuncay Özkan, a former police chief Adil Serdar Saçan and former mayor of Esenyurt district of Istanbul Gürbüz Çapan.

20 October 2008

Ergenekon trial began.

The trial started by the reading of the indictment.

17 Aralık 2008

Council of State attack case was merged with the Ergenekon investigation.

Supreme Court of Appeals decided that May 2006 Council of State attack case should be merged with the Ergenekon investigation. 11th Branch of the Ankara Court for Serious Crimes, which was ruling the Council of State attack case approved this decision in 19 April 2009. Finally 13th Branch of the Istanbul Court for Serious Crimes, which rules the Ergenekon case, merged the two cases.

7 January 2009

Tenth Wave-General Kılınç, Major General Şenel and former president of the Higher Education Board, Prof. Kemal Gürüz detained.

During the police raids that had been conducted simultaneously in twelve provinces around the country, 37 people were arrested. The former General-Secretary of the National Security Council (MGK) Tuncer Kilinc, retired Major General Erdal Senel, the former head of the Special Operations Unit, Ibrahim Sahin, the former president of the Higher Education Board, Prof. Kemal Gürüz, writer Yalçın Küçük, Lieutenant Colonel Mustafa Dönmez who is still on duty (disappeared during the operations but surrendered five days later), retired General Kemal Yavuz are among the detainees. The operation started when the police noticed that Ibrahim Şahin ordered the assassination of the leaders of the Armenian community in Sivas.

Security teams also searched the buildings of the İSTEK Foundation and Yeditepe University owned by former Istanbul Mayor Bedrettin Dalan and the home of Sabih Kanadoğlu, honorary chief judge of the Supreme Court of Appeals. At 20 of April, large amounts of weaponry and explosives were found in the lands belonging to İSTEK Foundation.

08 January 2009

Arms caches were unearthed at various places.

Turkish police launched a series of searches after sketches were found at the home of İbrahim Şahin, who was arrested a day before. The largest cache of weaponry and explosives were found in the Gölbaşı district of Ankara. Police also found explosives in Sincan Ankara, based on the sketches found at the house of Lieutenant Colonel Mustafa Dönmez, another Ergenekon detainee of tenth wave. The grenades found in Sincan were identical to the grenades that had been found in Ümraniye at 12 June 2007. Other than these two, smaller arms caches were unearthed at Ankara, Trabzon, Antalya, Sakarya and Sivas.

At 19 June 2009 military prosecutors confirmed that the sketch found at the house of Dönmez was drawn by him and filed charges against Dönmez, demanding up to 12 years in prison. Additionally, in the indictment prosecutor stated that hand grenades found in Dönmez's home had been supplied to the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) by the state-owned Turkish Mechanical and Chemical Industry Corporation (MKE).

14 January 2009

Ergenekon fugitive, Brigadier General Levent Ersöz, was captured in Ankara.

One of the key suspects of the Ergenekon case, retired Brigadier General Levent Ersöz, who fled to Moscow when he learned he was wanted, was apprehended at an Ankara hospital yesterday. He has been wanted by police since July 2008. Later day, police found wiretapping records of former Chief of General Staff Hilmi Özkök’s phone conversations at Ersöz’s home.

15 January 2009

Interrogation of Tuncer Kılınç evoked a new debate on “Encümen-i Daniş” (Consultation Council)

After it is revealed that the Ergenekon prosecutors questioned former General-Secretary of the National Security Council (MGK) Tuncer Kılınc, a detainee of tenth wave, about Encümen-i Daniş, this led to a new public debate on whether Encümen-i Daniş is the high council of the Ergenekon or not. Encümen-i Daniş which means Consulation Council, consists of all high profile members like retired top commanders, retired bureaucrats, diplomats and former politicians. Members of the Council confirmed the bi-weekly secret meetings, but denied any link with Ergenekon.

22 January 2009

Eleventh wave was launched.

A total of 20 police officers from the Special Forces unit and army officers, who have connections with former police chief İbrahim Şahin, were detained in operations waged in 15 provinces within the scope of the 11th wave of operation Ergenekon. The operation, which was conducted 15 days after the 10th wave, covered major cities such as Ankara, Istanbul and Izmir, as well as Turkey's southeastern provinces. Mustafa Özbek, the chairman of Turkish Metal Union, Erhan Göksel, the chairman of Verso Center of Political Research, were among the latest detainees in the operation.

27 February 2009

Voice record of Karadayı was revealed through internet.

A voice record belonging to the Former Chieff of Staff Hakkı Karadayı started circulating through internet. In this recorded speech, Karadayı unravels how he intervened in the presidential election process and also he talks about the roles he undertook during the previous coups in Turkey.

06 March 2009

Mustafa Balbay was arrested.

Cumhuriyet's Ankara representative Mustafa Balbay was arrested. Later at 16 March, documents revealed at his computer were published in a web based news portal. (tempo24.com.tr) In these documents, Balbay explains his coup plans in detail. So far, neither Balbay nor the Cumhuriyet daily where he used to work denied the diaries.

08 March 2009

Death wells were opened.

At 8 March, upon the request of the public prosecutor, acid wells claimed as death wells, were opened for investigation in the Cizre district of Sirnak. At 14 March, 22 bones and a human skull aside some clothing were found. At 23rd of March, Cemal Temizöz who served in the region during 1990-1996 was arrested at Kayseri.

10 March 2009

Second indictment was submitted.

Second indictment was submitted. The trials of this indictment will start at 20 July. This indictment, nearly 2000 pages covers the detainees from the sixth wave to ninth wave. A third indictment will be prepared for the later waves.

The indictment is composed of five chapters. The first chapter summarizes the first indictment and the second gives information about the "Ergenekon" organization. The third and the fourth chapters list activities and crimes committed by the organization. And the final chapter includes individual acts of the suspects.

13 April 2009

Twelfth Wave-University rectors were arrested.

At least 18 people, including the current Başkent University rector and three former university rectors, were detained. Mehmet Haberal current rector of Başkent University, Professor Fatih Hilmioğlu, former rector of İnönü University in the southeastern province of Malatya, Professor Ferit Bernay, former rector of Ondokuz Mayıs University in the Black Sea province of Samsun, and Professor Mustafa Yurtkuran, former rector of Uludağ University in the western province of Bursa, are among the detainees. Professor Erol Manisalı, daily Cumhuriyet columnist and retired lecturer at Istanbul University, was also detained in Istanbul.

20 April 2009

Arms cache was found in the land belonging to İSTEK Foundation.

Many weapons and bombs were unearthed in an excavation that was conducted as part of the Ergenekon probe on land that belonged to the İSTEK Foundation in Istanbul’s Poyrazköy district. The items found included 2,000 bullets, five booby traps, 10 hand grenades, 13 fog bombs, 11 light anti-tank weapons, 23 emergency flares and a number of 50-millimeter bomb fuses. The foundation said it was a protected area and a military training zone, implying that weaponry should be belonging to military. At 29 April, military disproved this statement, and also claimed that none of the weapons found belonged to the military. However, a 10-page report by the supplier Makina Kimya Enstitüsü sent to the Prosecutor’s Office showed that the weapons found in Poyrazköy were sent to the army, navy, air force, gendarmerie and special forces. Owner of the foundation, Bedrettin Dalan is an Ergenekon fugitive currently in USA.

18 May 2009

Türkan Saylan died.

Türkan Saylan, whose house had been raided during the twelfth wave, died of cancer. Her funeral at 19 May, attracted large crowds

4 June 2009

Thirteenth Wave- Army officers are arrested as part of an investigation into the ammunition found in Poyrazköy.

Twenty people, including 16 army officers on active duty, were detained in simultaneous operations conducted in five Turkish provinces. It was claimed that the detained soldiers had ties to retired major Levent Pektaş who was earlier arrested in relation to the arms cache found in Poyrazköy, Istanbul.

10 June 2009

Hundredth hearing in the Ergenekon trial was held.

Ergenekon trial which started at 20 October 2008, held its hundredth hearing in 10 June 2009. Thus hundred hearings had been held in this 233 days.

12 June 2009

Taraf daily published a military action plan targeting the ruling JDP and the Gülen community.

Taraf daily published the document of an action plan, captured in the last wave of Ergenekon. The document is prepared and signed by Colonel Dursun Çiçek, who is still on active duty. The plan is said to contain efforts to end the activities of religious movements, particularly the AKP government and the Gülen group. The plan called for the Gülen community to be declared an armed terror organization by having the police "find" artillery in the community’s houses. Other actions proposed in the plan are said to have been meant to leave the impression that the Gülen community is in cooperation with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK; in contact with institutions like the CIA and MOSSAD; and behind the Ergenekon case. The plan also reportedly includes efforts to discredit the National Education Ministry.

Few days later, at the 16th of June, JDP filed a criminal complaint with the prosecutors, and prime minister said that his party would not remain silent. Military also started an investigation, but the military prosecutors ruled at 23rd of June that the document was a forgery and there was no need for the prosecution of Dursun Çiçek.

25 June 2009

Turkish Parliament paved the way for civilian courts to try military personnel.

Turkey's parliament has passed legislation aimed at meeting European Union membership criteria to ensure military personnel are tried in civilian courts during peacetime rather than in military courts. The legislation passed on Friday requires civilian courts to try members of the armed forces who are accused of crimes including threats to national security, constitutional violations, organizing armed groups and attempts to topple the government. The change to the penal code also says civilians cannot be tried in military courts unless the country is in a state of martial law or at war.

At 26th June, İlker Başbuğ, the Chieff of Staff, made a press conference reflecting the unrest of military with regard to the debates on the action plan published by Taraf, and the legislative changes that enables the military personnel to be tried by civilian courts. Despite voting affirmatively for the legislation, secularist Republican People's Party (CHP) later applied the top court at 13 July in order to annul the law. At 23rd July, the top court accepted to deal with the change.

30 June 2009

Dursun Çiçek and eight other colonels are investigated by the Ergenekon prosecutors.

Following the military prosecutor’s ruling that there is no need for the prosecution of Colonel Dursun Çiçek, Ergenekon prosecutors started an investigation of Çiçek and eight other colonels within the scope of Ergenekon probe. Dursun Çiçek was arrested by court order the same day, but was released by a higher court a day later.

16 July 2009

Trial of Colonel Cemal Temizöz with regard to the unsolved murders started.

The most comprehensive case dealing with the unsolved murders in Turkey's southeast started with a court in the southeastern province of Diyarbakır asserting a serious claim about Col. Cemal Temizöz, the head of the provincial gendarmerie forces in the central Anatolian province of Kayseri. The court alleged that Temizöz forced confessors to kill 20 people within the scope of the "fight against terrorism" when he was commissioned in Cizre town, in the southeastern province of Şırnak.

18 July 2009

Top Court Didn’t Allow Probe of Osman Paksüt

Turkey’s highest court announced that there was no need to launch an investigation of the court’s vice president, Osman Paksüt, regarding his alleged involvement with suspects in the ongoing Ergenekon probe and leaking court information. The decision constitutes a precedent in the ongoing Ergenekon case.

Discussing the case on Friday, the top court concluded that court member Osman Paksüt leaked information to the third parties on the closure case of the AKP but decided not to launch an investigation into him on grounds that the collected evidence was illegal as he had his phone tapped without court approval. The top court voted 10-1 against any investigation into Osman Paksüt.

20 July 2009

Ergenekon Case’s Second Phase started

The Istanbul High Criminal Court has begun trying 56 suspects under the second indictment of the "Ergenekon" probe. The 1909-page indictment includes accusations against 56 suspects including retired generals Hursit Tolon and Mehmet Sener Eruygur. 16 of those suspects have already been under arrest. Prosecutors demanded aggravated life imprisonment for 13 suspects of the Ergenekon probe. The court is expected to decide first whether to merge the second case with the first one in which 86 other people are already on trial for their alleged involvement in the organization. They are also accused of planning assassinations and bombings to sow chaos and overthrow the government.

20 July 2009

Third Indictment was submitted to the court.

The Ergenekon prosecutors submitted the third indictment of the Ergenekon probe to the İstanbul Higher Criminal Court, where the current hearing of Ergenekon suspects goes on. The indictment is 1454 pages and indicts 52 people 37 of whom are still under arrest. The suspects were arrested between Jan. 10, 2009 and April 17, 2009. (11th wave and later on)

27 July 2009

HSYK (The Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors) and Justice Ministery reached a compromise on the appointment of Ergenekon prosecutors.

Earlier, members of HSYK demanded the reassignment of the judges and prosecutors of the ongoing Ergenekon probe, while Justice Ministry resisted this demand. This led to a three week deadlock which was finally resolved on 27 July with the decision that Ergenekon prosecutors would keep their positions, but a second name, Istanbul Vice Chief Public Prosecutor Olcay Seçkin, would also be assigned to the prosecution team. Ministry of Justice would launch an inquiry into the complaints and charges against the Ergenekon prosecutors, if sufficient evidence exists. Three week deadlock created a huge public controversy, while both HSYK and ministry accused each other for exceeding their powers. The debates were triggered when the photos of a meeting between Ali Suat Ertosun, a member of HSYK, and Engin Aydın, an Ergenekon suspect, appeared on the journals.

At 26th June, İlker Başbuğ, the Chieff of Staff, made a press conference reflecting the unrest of military with regard to the debates on the action plan published by Taraf, and the legislative changes that enables the military personnel to be tried by civilian courts. Despite voting affirmatively for the legislation, secularist Republican People's Party (CHP) later applied the top court at 13 July in order to annul the law. At 23rd July, the top court accepted to deal with the change.

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Former Italian President Francesco Cossiga said the following about Ergenekon on February 17, 2009: "Turkish Gladio was unique. Turkey was on the Gladio coordination committee, but it was not on the political committee. The Turkish organization had a more independent structure. I can assure you that Turkey always held a special place. Turkey never allowed NATO to interfere in its internal affairs. I have no evidence but it seems that Turkish army maintained the Gladio structure in order to preserve the secular system.” On continuing the investgation of the Turkish deep state, Felice Casson, the prosecutor of Gladio in Italy. declared on April 28, 2008: "You must go to the end in the investigation. There are such significant accusations that you have to go to the end to clarify things. Otherwise this is so dangerous for democracy.”

However, there are interests in Washington, including President Obama, who want to see the Turks end their investigation of Ergenekon. Some people are getting nervous where the Ergenekon road will lead and many of them are in America's capital city and in the offices overlooking Old Jerusalem.

Wolfowitz ordered Turkish special forces arrested in Iraq as retaliation for Turkey's non-support for Iraq invasion

On July 4, 2003, U.S. troops took prisoner in northern Iraq a group of Turkish Special Forces personnel. The Turkish troops were hooded and brutally interrogated by U.S. military personnel. After Turkey protested their troops' detention and treatment, the U.S. released the Turks without ever issuing an apology. The "Cuval Olay" (the "Hood Event") incident still sticks in the crawl of the Turkish government.

WMR has learned from senior Turkish government sources that it was Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz who issued the order to take the Turks prisoner in retalation for Turkey's decision not to support the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq.

The current frosty relations between Washington and Ankara began after the reformist AK Party of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan took office and Wolfowitz and other Jewish and pro-Israeli neocons immediately sought to isolate Turkey after its refusal to join the anti-Iraq "Coalition of the Willing." Wolfowitz and the Pentagon neocons were also aware of and quietly supported the Operation Sledgehammer plans of the Turkish military to overthrow the Erdogan government in a coup organized by the secret Ergenekon network.

As is the case with the Ergenekon right-wing network of false flag terrorists in Turkey, the Hood Event received little attention in the neocon-controlled U.S. media.

On May 6, 2003, Wolfowitz called Turkey's refusal to allow the international "Coalition of the Willing" to launch an invasion of Iraq a "big disappointment." Speaking on CNN Turk, Wolfowitz chided the Erdogan government by stating that the Erdogan government "was prepared to make it difficult for the Iraqi people to be liberated, was prepared to seemingly do deals with one of the worst dictators - somebody who has probably killed a million Muslims."

Wolfowitz also chided the Turkish military for not playing its traditional leadership role in Turkish politics, a history of a series of military coups against elected governments over several decades. Wolfowitz stated, "I think for whatever reason they [the Turkish military] did not play the strong leadership role on that issue [the invasion of Iraq] that we would have expected. But I think the bigger disappointment has to do with the general failure of the Turkish public reflected also in the government . . ."

When the Turkish Special Forces were identified in Sulaymaniya in northern Iraq, Wolfowitz gave the order for U.S. troops to capture, detain, and use enhanced interrogation techniques on the Turkish troops. It was the first example in NATO's history of U.S. forces treating allied forces in such a manner.

Wolfowitz's criticisms of Turkey came at the same time that a cabal of Turkish Army, Air Force, Naval, and intelligence officers were preparing to overthrow the Erdogan government in a military coup.

The detention and interrogation of eleven Turkish Special Forces in Iraq along with a number of Iraqi Turkoman civilians, rather than mobilize support for a military coup against the Erdogan government, solidified Turkish public opinion, as well as key members of the Armed Forces not associated with Ergenekon and Sledgehammer, against the United States.

On July 18, two top U.S. generals paid a visit to Ankara, Central Command chief General John Abizaid and NATO Supreme Allied Commander, General James L. Jones. Press releases stated the two discussed "cooperation" between the U.S. military and the Erdogan government. But after the planned Sledgehammer operation and the detention of the Turkish troops in Iraq, were Abizaid and Jones telling Erdogan and his ministers how far the U.S. was prepared to go to turn the thumb screws on Turkey? Jones is now President Obama's National Security Adviser. Obama owes it to the United States and Turkey to have Jones come clean about his knowledge of the planned coups against Turkey's AKP government. If Jones, a loyal member of the Council on Foreign Relations, knew about the coups and did nothing to stop them, he should be sacked immediately from his White House position.

Sledgehammer was put into play from the moment Erdogan's Justice and Development Party (AKP) won the November 3, 2002 general election and at a time the Bush administration was gearing up for its invasion of Iraq. Sledgehammer plans ebbed after Erdogan's government took office on March 14, 2003. The U.S. launched its invasion of Iraq on March 20, 2003, less than a week after Erdogan took office.

Wolfowitz tipped his hand in a speech in London on December 2, 2002 at the International Institute of Strategic Studies in London. After the AKP victory in Turkey's election, Wolfowitz quoted from Mustapha Kemal Ataturk, the patron saint of the Ergenekon coup plotters:

Modern Turkey demonstrates that a democratic system is indeed compatible with Islam, a Muslim understanding Ataturk once expressed, when he said: [phonetic: Islam Ahlak denektir]. 'Islam means morals and values.' And in upholding Islam's morals and values, there can be a separation of religion from state-a separation that is completely compatible with personal piety. As we understand in the UK and the US, and as Ataturk captured it when he said: [phonetic: Din insan ilay Allah arasindabir ishtir], 'Religion is a matter between man and God.'"The fact that Wolfowitz, a Zionist Jew, was lecturing Turkey's AKP on the role of Islam and secular government was not lost on many members of the Turkish Armed Forces. When it came time for them to stand up with the Sledgehammer coup plotters and rally for Turkish military participation in the neocon-inspired invasion of Iraq, they remained silent. As a result, the AKP government survives to this day with a strong public mandate for constitutional change and a new Turkey.

The reformist Justice and Development Party (AKP) of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan faces a new problem from its southern flank in its efforts to rid Turkey of its "deep state" Ergenokon network. Turkish hard-line rightist Dervis Eroglu has narrowly won the presidential race in the self-proclaimed Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, an entity that the Erdogan government would like to see join Greek Cyprus in a loose federation, thus paving the way for Turkey's accession into the European Union.

Eroglu's narrow win over leftist incumbent Mehmet Ali Talat will only serve to embolden those Ergenekon forces in Turkey and North Cyprus that thrive in the status quo of a bifurcated Cyprus and a Turkey on the outside of the EU. The Turkish Cypriot election also provides Israel and its eastern European gangster tycoons who are involved in casinos and money laundering in a secure enclave with a murky legal status -- North Cyprus --where casinos lure Turkish gamblers from the mainland where gambling is illegal.

Eroglu insists on a sovereign North Cyprus -- a two-state solution -- a stance that is rejected by Greek Cyprus, Greece, the EU, and the Turkish government. However, North Cyprus has always benefited by the quiet support of another pariah state in the region -- Israel -- and that support will likely increase since Eroglu is at odds with the government in Ankara and Erdogan has criticized Israel over its actions in Gaza and the West Bank.

As long as Israelis are able to freely run hotel/casino complexes in North Cyprus, the proceeds can be laundered into funding Ergenekon activities in North Cyprus, as well as mainland Turkey. North Cyprus's accession into a Cypriot federation that would be covered by EU law put the casino and money laundering interests of Israel and its Ergenekon friends in jeopardy.

The North Cyprus casinos, which at last count numbered some 70, primarily draw Turks from the mainland, followed by Greek Cypriots, Israelis, and Europeans. The original law permitting casinos in North Cyprus was enacted in 1975, following North Cyprus's uniateral declaration of independence, but casino tourism did not gain momentum until the late 1990s when Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and his family began to cut lucrative casino deals on the West Bank and Cyprus. Israel, like mainland Turkey, bans gambling.

In 2003, Greek Cypriot authorities deported Israeli tourists whose Israeli your operator concocted a scam in which the Israelis claimed they were holidaying in Larnaca, in Greek Cyprus, when, in fact, they were traveling by bus across the UN Green Line to North Cyprus to gamble. Greek Cyprus only permits legal betting on horse races and football matches.

Israeli casino flights now touch down at Antalya, on the Turkish mainland, before flying on to North Cyprus.

Israeli businessman Roni Kuperberg owns the Chateau Lambousa casino, west of Kyrenia, the major port city of northern Cyprus. Israel's Ofer Grou, owned b Israeli businessman Sami Ofer, announced plans in 2007 to build a hotel casino complex at Girne in North Cyprus.

One major Israeli player in North Cypriot gambling is Teddy Sagi. In 1999, Sagi and three other Israelis, Elad Cohen, Rami Beinish, and Amnon Ben-Zion, started Playtech, a provider of on-line gambling software that primarily used software programmers in Estonia. Sagi is a convicted stock fraudster, having been convicted of fraud in the 1996 "Discount affair," a stock manipulation scheme.

The North Cyprus connection to Ergenekon was highlighted in 2006 when an armed clash broke out in the enclave between gangs loyal to two casino owners. One of the parties was reported to have been Yasar Oz, a suspect in the Ergenekon network exposed in the Susurluk car crash incident in 1996, in which documents related to Ergenekon first surfaced.